Both candidates in Chicago Ward 47 runoff completed Ballotpedia’s citizen-generated candidate survey
Matt Martin and Michael Negron, both candidates that advanced to a runoff in Chicago's Ward 47 alderman race, completed Ballotpedia's special Chicago candidate survey, which was developed with input from more than 100 Chicagoans.
Martin and Negron will face one another in a runoff election to serve as Ward 47 alderman on April 2 since neither earned a majority last week when Chicago held elections for mayor, city clerk, city treasurer, and all 50 alderman positions.
Read their responses to one of our questions:
Do you believe that there is corruption in Chicago politics, such as pay-to-play practices when the city awards bids? If so, how would you address it?
Matt Martin: "Recent news has confirmed that there is corruption in Chicago politics. Our city government badly needs reform. We must ban secondary employment to eliminate conflicts of interest that mired Alderman Ed Burke’s property tax firm. The City Council should not be immune to inspection, opening itself to audits and investigations by the Inspector General. There should also be term limits for Committee Chairs to ensure no one alderman is too powerful, such as the Finance and Zoning Committees that Aldermen Burke and Solis, respectively, oversaw. I also support reforming aldermanic prerogative so that individual aldermen do not have an inordinate amount of power over the developments that affect their constituents."
Michael Negron: "The recent Alderman Ed Burke scandal epitomizes everything that people hate about Chicago government. If Ald. Ed Burke and Ald. Willie Cochran are convicted, then we will have seen 35 aldermen convicted of corruption-related crimes committed while on their official duties since 1972. That’s a conviction every 14 months!
We need to view this as an opportunity to make big reforms. We can’t simply rely on electing new people and hope for the best. We need to change the rules.
That’s why I support prohibiting aldermen from having side jobs so they focus on their jobs full time. We need to limit aldermanic privilege when it comes to zoning and permits to remove the temptation to shake people down. I support expanding the authority of the inspector general over the City Council, and establishing the public financing of elections. We should also strengthen independent budget office, and take a real look at term limits."
Ballotpedia's special Chicago candidate survey was developed in partnership with the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Interactivity Foundation, and City Bureau.
In six races, we received responses from one candidate in the runoff and are awaiting replies from the other. Ballotpedia is contacting all Chicago candidates competing in the April 2 runoff to encourage them to fill out the survey in order to share their views with voters.
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